FEMA

Adventures in Flood Insurance

Merry Christmas and Pass Me the Jim Beam

Is God on 3-1-1?

So Much for Waterfront Views

Time Bomb Defused

Free Press Houston Announces "Summer Fest" Line-Up

The chill dudes across town at Free Press Houston dropped an awesome bomb this afternoon, announcing their two-day "Summer Fest" shindig, set to go down August 8 and 9 at Eleanor Tinsley Park. Tickets are at $7 for each day, with the line-up spread out over those two days. The headliners that Edit ... More >>

The Men's Club Is Open!

The chill dudes across town at Free Press Houston dropped an awesome bomb this afternoon, announcing their two-day "Summer Fest" shindig, set to go down August 8 and 9 at Eleanor Tinsley Park. Tickets are at $7 for each day, with the line-up spread out over those two days. The headliners that Edit ... More >>

A Dispatch from Dickinson

The chill dudes across town at Free Press Houston dropped an awesome bomb this afternoon, announcing their two-day "Summer Fest" shindig, set to go down August 8 and 9 at Eleanor Tinsley Park. Tickets are at $7 for each day, with the line-up spread out over those two days. The headliners that Edit ... More >>

Two Politicians, Two Responses

The chill dudes across town at Free Press Houston dropped an awesome bomb this afternoon, announcing their two-day "Summer Fest" shindig, set to go down August 8 and 9 at Eleanor Tinsley Park. Tickets are at $7 for each day, with the line-up spread out over those two days. The headliners that Edit ... More >>

Houston Libraries Begin To Re-Open, With Computers For Victims

The chill dudes across town at Free Press Houston dropped an awesome bomb this afternoon, announcing their two-day "Summer Fest" shindig, set to go down August 8 and 9 at Eleanor Tinsley Park. Tickets are at $7 for each day, with the line-up spread out over those two days. The headliners that Edit ... More >>

FEMA Not Looking Too Good in Greenspoint

The chill dudes across town at Free Press Houston dropped an awesome bomb this afternoon, announcing their two-day "Summer Fest" shindig, set to go down August 8 and 9 at Eleanor Tinsley Park. Tickets are at $7 for each day, with the line-up spread out over those two days. The headliners that Edit ... More >>

The FEMA Bureaucracy Descends, And Obfuscates

The chill dudes across town at Free Press Houston dropped an awesome bomb this afternoon, announcing their two-day "Summer Fest" shindig, set to go down August 8 and 9 at Eleanor Tinsley Park. Tickets are at $7 for each day, with the line-up spread out over those two days. The headliners that Edit ... More >>

The Initial Bill For Clean-Up In Houston: Almost $100 Million

The chill dudes across town at Free Press Houston dropped an awesome bomb this afternoon, announcing their two-day "Summer Fest" shindig, set to go down August 8 and 9 at Eleanor Tinsley Park. Tickets are at $7 for each day, with the line-up spread out over those two days. The headliners that Edit ... More >>

Sunny San Leon Picks Up the Pieces After Hurricane Ike

The chill dudes across town at Free Press Houston dropped an awesome bomb this afternoon, announcing their two-day "Summer Fest" shindig, set to go down August 8 and 9 at Eleanor Tinsley Park. Tickets are at $7 for each day, with the line-up spread out over those two days. The headliners that Edit ... More >>

Renters -- Don't Get Screwed By Lazy Landlords

The chill dudes across town at Free Press Houston dropped an awesome bomb this afternoon, announcing their two-day "Summer Fest" shindig, set to go down August 8 and 9 at Eleanor Tinsley Park. Tickets are at $7 for each day, with the line-up spread out over those two days. The headliners that Edit ... More >>

He's Guilty -- Of Generating Good Quotes

The chill dudes across town at Free Press Houston dropped an awesome bomb this afternoon, announcing their two-day "Summer Fest" shindig, set to go down August 8 and 9 at Eleanor Tinsley Park. Tickets are at $7 for each day, with the line-up spread out over those two days. The headliners that Edit ... More >>

Galveston Releases A Damage-Assessment Map

The chill dudes across town at Free Press Houston dropped an awesome bomb this afternoon, announcing their two-day "Summer Fest" shindig, set to go down August 8 and 9 at Eleanor Tinsley Park. Tickets are at $7 for each day, with the line-up spread out over those two days. The headliners that Edit ... More >>

No Room At The Inn For Returning Galvestonians

The chill dudes across town at Free Press Houston dropped an awesome bomb this afternoon, announcing their two-day "Summer Fest" shindig, set to go down August 8 and 9 at Eleanor Tinsley Park. Tickets are at $7 for each day, with the line-up spread out over those two days. The headliners that Edit ... More >>

Fanfare For The Area Man

The chill dudes across town at Free Press Houston dropped an awesome bomb this afternoon, announcing their two-day "Summer Fest" shindig, set to go down August 8 and 9 at Eleanor Tinsley Park. Tickets are at $7 for each day, with the line-up spread out over those two days. The headliners that Edit ... More >>

Buy Lemonade, Help The Federal Government Out

The chill dudes across town at Free Press Houston dropped an awesome bomb this afternoon, announcing their two-day "Summer Fest" shindig, set to go down August 8 and 9 at Eleanor Tinsley Park. Tickets are at $7 for each day, with the line-up spread out over those two days. The headliners that Edit ... More >>

Ike-Response Hearings Begin; FEMA Doesn't Bother To Show Up

The chill dudes across town at Free Press Houston dropped an awesome bomb this afternoon, announcing their two-day "Summer Fest" shindig, set to go down August 8 and 9 at Eleanor Tinsley Park. Tickets are at $7 for each day, with the line-up spread out over those two days. The headliners that Edit ... More >>

He Got His Fraud Conviction Through The Houston Chronicle

The chill dudes across town at Free Press Houston dropped an awesome bomb this afternoon, announcing their two-day "Summer Fest" shindig, set to go down August 8 and 9 at Eleanor Tinsley Park. Tickets are at $7 for each day, with the line-up spread out over those two days. The headliners that Edit ... More >>

Be Thou Fishers Of Men, Or Scammers Of Government

There's no scam like a religious scam. And there's no religious scam like one where the church involved has a really churchy name, like Fishers of Men. And that's what we have (allegedly) in Houston -- the US Attorney's office has indicted the heads of Fishers of Men for skimming millions in fa ... More >>

Bacliff Gets Ready For An Ike Invasion

Shortly after Hurricane Ike, San Leon resident Tommy Dixon praised the spirit of his hometown and its will to rebuild by saying "All we need now are FEMA trailers and mosquito repellent."We don't know about the mosquito repellent, but they are getting the FEMA trailers. Two hundred of them are slate ... More >>

Searching for Hurricane Ike Victims

Some may never be found.

The Five Least Significant Deaths In Houston This Year

We've already noted the five biggest local deaths in 2008; now it's time to look at the five deaths that leave the smallest amounts of sympathy or significance.5. The Playoff Chances of the Texans and Astros. Insignificant because really, did anyone expect anything different? The teams blew when the ... More >>

Closing: The Last Ike Recovery Center Remaining Open

It's a milestone of sorts: The last Ike recovery center still operating will close its doors Friday.At one time 130 such centers were open, but now the only one left is at the Galveston Island Community Center on Broadway. It's served 28,000 visitors, FEMA says."The recovery centers provided much-ne ... More >>

A Pleasure Cruiser and The Worst Song in the World

On the Trailer

Hobby Bloggers at the Chronicle Spark Controversy

On the Trailer

RIP, Some of Our Best Of Houston® Winners

Hardly Knew Ye

Hurricane Relief

Houston doesn't roll over for Ike

The Long Goodbye

It sounds so simple: FEMA purchasing homes flooded by Tropical Storm Allison. Then come the bureaucratic blizzards and personal angst over giving up and getting out.

First They Came For Our Teabags: The Slideshow

Photo by Katharine ShilcuttWe promised, and we are Promise Keepers! (of a sort).Here's the slideshow of the tea-party protest at Jones Plaza yesterday. Check to see if you made the cut. We are not responsible, however, if the fact that your photo is posted here puts you on a Department of Homeland S ... More >>

Have a Nice Summer!

Panic, FEMA, empty shelves — here's the only Hurricane Guide you'll need this year.

Debate Club

KTRH's shouter has a hissy fit

Juvenile

Reality Check

La Mordita

Check cashers and furniture rental companies take a big chunk out of post-hurricane FEMA checks

System Failure

Tropical Storm Allison destroyed houses that never quite got fixed, thanks to bureaucratic bungling and cheaters

Against All Odds

A group of unsupervised mental patients running from Katrina made it from New Orleans to Houston. Victor Fruge led the way.

Out of Control

The City of Houston requires developers in the floodplain to elevate and mitigate -- build houses on higher ground and dig detention ponds for runoff. Except, not always.

Not Worth A Dam

Clear Creek is on the rise, and local flood-protection methods have been helpless against it. Soggy residents, tired of being perpetual victims, are ready for a fight.

Added Costs

Houston finally moves on a flood program that could have saved residents millions

Three Hurricanes, Three Fraud Schemes

Wherever there's a hurricane, ma, I'll be there...Wherever a FEMA official's handing out a form to fill, I'll be the person scamming them...Wherever -- Well, we don't think the Tom Joad speech at the end of The Grapes of Wrath goes exactly like that, but it would if Phyllis Ann Taylor was saying it. ... More >>

Ripping Off FEMA And Oprah: Not A Good Idea

​It's one thing to defraud FEMA in the wake of a hurricane. It's another to mess with Oprah.That's the sad, heavy lesson learned by four people named in indictments unsealed this morning by the U.S. Attorney's office. They're charged with, as the feds put it, "wrongfully obtaining rental assistanc ... More >>

Guilty Pleas From The Sisters Who Dared To Defraud FEMA And Oprah

This summer we told you about two locals who had not only been accused of defrauding the federal government, but something far, far more powerful: Oprah Winfrey.​Sisters Darlene McGruder Poole and Lashone McGruder Victor were charged in August with filing false information to FEMA in order to get ... More >>

Two Pastors And A Deacon Admit That Their Church Was One Hell Of A Scam

​Some blog items never die.Almost a year ago we wrote about the fraud charges filed against officials of the Fishers of Men Worship Center in Houston. To this day, barely a week goes by without someone throwing up another comment on the case, either defending the officials or saying they got what ... More >>

Fishers of Men: Pastor And Associates Get Prison Time For Fraud

Go thou and defraudeth FEMA....​It was almost two years ago that we wrote about the Fishers of Men scandal, a church in southwest Houston whose pastor and associates were charged with various financial shenanigans.It sparked a comment war between defenders and accusers that lasted so long and got ... More >>

Our Mother of Mercy

How far did cardinal go in tearing down Ike-ravaged church?

Wildfire: What to Do If It Nears, Houstonians

Hopefully you won't be dealing with this​Here in Houston, we generally think about wildfire danger as often as we do earthquakes, which is to say never at all. But the recent fire in George Bush Park shows that the historic drought has made a lot more people vulnerable to a wildfire. So what ... More >>

ERRRRRR: Get Ready to Get Emergency Broadcasted On, Y'All

​A nationwide test of Emergency Alert System is set for today at 1 p.m. Houston time, when a half-minute message will air on all television and radio stations. The purpose is to test out the preparedness of the system to break into radio and TV channels to give instructions and news in the eve ... More >>